Telematics units within mobile vehicles provide subscribers with connectivity to a telematics service provider (TSP). The TSP provides subscribers with an array of services ranging from emergency call handling and stolen vehicle recovery to diagnostics monitoring and turn-by-turn navigation. Upon activation, the telematics unit provides a subscriber with a wide variety of telematics services rendered by a variety of networked providers.
The telematics services provide, among other things, information regarding businesses and amenities located in the vicinity of the user. For example, a TSP permits a user to request a listing of various service providers (and associated locations) in the vicinity of a specified location (current or intended future) of the user. To facilitate providing such information to the user, a TSP obtains maps and information regarding businesses and amenities.
During a trip to an intended destination a vehicle passes a variety of potential places of interest (POI) for the vehicle's occupants. A POI may be a gas station, a restaurant, a store, etc. Waypoints are stopping locations along a route to a specified destination. More particularly, waypoints correspond to places along a vehicle route to the specified destination where one or more occupants of the vehicle perform a needed/desired activity. Therefore, once a user has selected a POI, the selected POI becomes a waypoint along the vehicle route to the specified destination.
Waypoints are presently cumbersome to identify and select from thousands of potential POIs existing along a specified vehicle route. In many instances there are far too many POIs to reasonably present all the potential POIs to vehicle occupants. Effective selection and presentation of POIs that meet actual or contemplated needs of vehicle occupants enhances the utility of POI recommendation interfaces, with selection of a particular presented POI resulting in creating a new waypoint along the vehicle route. As a result of creating the new waypoint, the vehicle route and an associated time of arrival estimate may need to be updated.
Substantial effort has been expended to inform vehicle users and prevent/discourage activities by drivers that may lead to driver distraction. Maintaining driver activities within guidelines to minimize distraction is desirable, and providing functional interfaces that can be operated by a driver within recommended guidelines provides a balance between the needs of vehicle drivers and minimizing driver distraction when presenting POIs as selectable/potential new waypoints on a trip to a specified destination.
Providers of POI recommendation/notification systems are challenged to effectively present meaningful/reasonable POIs in a way that satisfactorily informs the vehicle occupant(s) of desirable/needed POIs while meeting driver distraction guidelines. Reasonable presentation of POIs includes withhold/filtering out POIs that cannot fit within time constraints of a current trip.